A Statement Regarding SOS 2014.

[Badnik Mechanic]

From everyone on the Summer of Sonic Team.

 

 

 

 

Every year, The Summer of Sonic team dreams of new ways to excite and inspire like-minded Sonic the Hedgehog fans, with large-scale conventions that aim to bring people together under a common theme.

 

Due to the nature of how the annual event is organised, each Summer of Sonic event hinges on the availability of key team players, as they help build the show in their spare time – alongside SEGA personnel who also must work around their daily duties.

 

With this in mind, it is after a lot of consideration that we have decided to put Summer of Sonic on hiatus for 2014. During this hiatus, we will take stock of the things we have accomplished with SEGA and then decide when we will be able to return for another round of Sonic excitement.

 

The team would like to express our sincere thanks for the continued support of our fellow Sonic fans, as well as our apologies for any disappointment this news may cause.

 

Since its début in 2008, the Summer of Sonic has been a truly pioneering event, entertaining thousands of fellow Sonic the Hedgehog fans from all corners of the world with the mantra of providing a convention by the fans, for the fans.

 

Its creation also marks a significant milestone in the video games industry – these past six years this small team of adoring fans have enjoyed an extremely close working partnership with the company responsible for the products and characters they grew up with and love. This close interaction between brand and community is unprecedented to this day, and shows SEGA as a company ahead of the curve when it comes to fan engagement.

 

As such, the team would like to thank SEGA and the Sonic Team for its support for the convention – both past, present and future.

 

Source: Sega Blog.

[Tani Coyote]

I had been quite excited for the day Boom would be announced, as you all know based on my statistics posts.

So, I have mixed feelings about today. I'm exhilarated that Boom has come to fruition, yet also bummed that many of my European friends do not have their own convention.

All that in mind... I thank the SoS team for their hard work and understand the hiatus. This will just help make the next event all the bigger and better, I think.

Hopefully everyone can go to Sonic Boom or Weston Super Sonic.

[TCB]

This is one of those cases of 'you win some, you lose some' eh?

 

I respect the SoS team's decision on not being able to host a Summer of Sonic this year, all things considered. On the bright side it gives them an extra year to 'recharge' after their hard work in previous years. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Svend has updated the official SOS website with a little more information.

 

http://2014.summerofsonic.com/

[kimplix]

[JezMM]

Waaaaaaah that's a real shame but I my ill-will towards this decision is so low it's in the minus numbers.  After so many straight years in a row of pulling the colossal task off for free, and always to such great standards, they are due for a break to re-organise.

[Blue Blood]

Well, that's a shame. I'm sure that this wasn't a decision that anyone involved had wanted to make. Would've been very nice if SEGA were to step up to the plate and offer an alternative (like a Sonic Boom London), but oh well. It's not like SoS has been anything other than a roaring success every year so far, so whether it's just on hiatus this year or potentially for the foreseeable future it's still something that all the fans and those involved can be proud of.

[TCB]

Still though, since my enjoyment with SoS in the past two or so years has been the top-notch video streaming from Sonic Paradox/TSS and audio from RadioSEGA it's unfortunate that magic can't be shared this year, but again it's perfectly understandable. 

 

You guys have hit it out of the ballpark each year to bring us the fun for those who can't attend, and that's a commendable feat. So thank you SoS Team. Whenever the event returns I'm sure it'll be better than the last.

[DarkRula]

I can only guess that the same issues that plagued last year's event did so with this one too.

Except this time there was no workaround.

The staff who worked around the clock to deliver every year deserve a rest, and though I am fairly new to the community [April of last year], I've been active in it from the start. I watched the SoS event last year on live stream, and watched plenty of videos from previous years, as well as read about them, to know what this event is about at its core.

I can only hope that when it returns, it'll do so stronger and much more alive in spirit than ever before.

And also, I so called an announcement for today. Sort of

 

All these tantilising hints!

I'll wake up tomorrow [well, get on here] and here on this site will be official confirmation of one of the following:

-Cream and Cheese for Sonic Boom

-Chao Garden in the 3DS version with Cream as a guide

-Summer of Sonic and Sonic Boom will be related to Cream and Cheese

-This is all a trick to get us grabbing crumbs, and then reveal an event for next week.

 

[Irish David]

Having attended last years Summer of Sonic, I fully understand the huge amount of hard work, time and dedication it takes to plan an event of this size. The team did an amazing job and deserve a lot of credit for the work they do. Having read Svend's statement I remain confident that this event will be back in the future but the team deserve a chance to take a break, recharge and start again. 

 

You guys have earned your break so enjoy it!!

[Jix Hedgehog]

Unfortunate :/

Everyone always has a great time, but when you stop and think about it, it must be an absolute *itch to organize on top of letting it be free.

[Tani Coyote]

Would've been very nice if SEGA were to step up to the plate and offer an alternative (like a Sonic Boom London), but oh well.

As far as I know, funding wouldn't be the issue since SEGA Europe provides a lot of that anyway; I presume it's mostly a staff issue since from what I hear, SEGA Europe is pretty skeletonized compared to SEGA America.

SEGA Europe seems to have a very different approach to events as well, so while they could theoretically hire volunteers and hold an alternative in SoS' place, I'm presuming they feel it just wouldn't be the same, as SoS is normally run by fans with a certain passion that people who are earning a wage would not have.

On the plus side, that means all the financial savings from this year could possibly be rolled into next year's.

Or if fans wouldn't mind waiting two years... it would make the 25th anniversary party REALLY spectacular.

Either way, I'm sure Summer of Sonic will return soon enough, and having had even more time to plan it (I can tell from all the hints this event is planned WELL in advance), I'm sure it will be the best one yet.

[Jeroscope]

Is anyone going to murder me if I say i've never heard of this in my life?

[Blue Blood]

I wasn't talking about financial savings or anything of the sort. I meant that since there wasn't going to be an SoS, it would have been very cool if SEGA decided to host their own event instead.

[MamboCat]

I'm under the impression that since Sega Europe downsized to PC games only, there might be less staff in the UK now?

 

Also IIRC Dreadknux also decided to retire last year, am I right? Perhaps there's no-one to replace his leadership? :/

 

Anyways; I'm a little disappointed as I wanted to attend this year, finally... but I can see why, with all the Sonic Boom stuff going on, why it could be virtually impossible to organise a Sonic event this year. All the effort is going into that, afterall.

[Covskin]

I don't think anyone can truly begrudge you guys for this.

 

If anything, thank you again for all the great events you've put on these past few years, and I look forward to the next one, whenever that may be.

[MamboCat]

Anyways, here's a real life hedgehog doing something cute:

 

 

There. All better now.

 

So, there's nothing else to say but have a lovely summer break to all those who organise this event every year. Nowt like time off!

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

Also IIRC Dreadknux also decided to retire last year, am I right? Perhaps there's no-one to replace his leadership? :/

 

 

For people wondering, this decision had nothing to do with it.

[MamboCat]

My apologies; it was meant to be a compliment but yeah... I can see why one could take it negatively.

[Detective Shadzter]

Anyways; I'm a little disappointed as I wanted to attend this year, finally... but I can see why, with all the Sonic Boom stuff going on, why it could be virtually impossible to organise a Sonic event this year. All the effort is going into that, afterall.

Sonic Boom had nothing to do with it. SEGA was all for working on an SoS 2014 with us. 

[sploit]

Sad news, but thanks so much to all who have been involved in holding the event each year. The events which I attended were incredible and provided me with some of the best experiences ever, and even facilitated me being able to do some awesome things like fulfill dreams of meeting some heroes and seeing one of my favourite bands live.

Such a cool thing to see so many fellow fans in one place, and everyone is always so excited and happy to be there.

For all those things and more, thank you all so very much.

Look forward to its return.

[Gabz Girl]

Awww shame! D: Me and Kaabii were very much looking forward to going this year since we've missed two years in a row already, but I understand the decision to go on a hiatus. The SoS team have done an amazing job every year and you all deserve a long and relaxing break. Hopefully we'll see something again very soon, if not next year then maybe something big for Sonic's 25th Anniversary in 2016.

[Tani Coyote]

I wasn't talking about financial savings or anything of the sort. I meant that since there wasn't going to be an SoS, it would have been very cool if SEGA decided to host their own event instead.

 

...and I supplemented that with why financially speaking, maybe postponing it isn't such a bad idea? SEGA Europe is kind of small, so while they could hold one... chances are they'd need to hire additional staff who just wouldn't have the enthusiasm the regular SoS team would.

At least, that's from what I've heard.

 

Sonic Boom had nothing to do with it. SEGA was all for working on an SoS 2014 with us.

I guess that shows that financial support is meaningless if there's not enough time in everyone's schedules to accompany it.

There's always next year, I suppose!

[MamboCat]

Sonic Boom had nothing to do with it. SEGA was all for working on an SoS 2014 with us. 

 

Okay, so I need to apologise for this too! For the record, what I meant was if the Sega team in Europe was small and were focussing on Boom, it would mean less time and resources for other things. I didn't mean it to be a slur against anyone, I can understand how much work events like this cost.

[Kevin]

As gutted as I am about SoS not taking place this year, I completely understand their reasons as to why. After all the hard work they've been into last year's event, they deserve a break. I look forward to when SoS comes back hopefully better than ever.